Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I wish I had written this...

I came across this on YouTube and can't get it to post...Then, I found that my mom had just finished reading Kelly Corrigan's book, The Middle Place.The excerpt made me smile and cry...but mostly feeling SO thankful for the friends that I have.And I would've never been able to say this to them as well as she did.But I do FEEL it as much as she does...

To my friends....even when I am too busy with work and family and kids...and when I am too tired to call or email or blog...I am thankful for you.

by Kelly Corrigan:I turned 40 a few weeks ago. I tried (twice) to make a toast about friendship but both times, I blew it. I wanted to say something about my mom and her friends, who call themselves “The Pigeons.”

There were once at least a dozen “Pigeons” (I believe the name was a self-effacing twist on Hens) but in the past few years, they lost two of the greats, Robin Burch and Mary Maroney, to cancer. On the pigeons go, though, like women do, limping one minute, carrying someone the next. They started in the 60s, in suburban Philadelphia, with bridge and tennis and chardonnay (ok, vodka) and, over time, became something like a dedicated fleet, armed ships sailing together, weather be damned.

For me and women of my generation, it started with playdates, cutting carbs and meeting on Monday mornings in workout clothes to do awkward moves with large colorful balls. And I can see exactly where it’s heading.

We’ll water each other’s plants, pick up each other’s mail, take each other’s Christmas card photos. We’ll confer about jog bras and contractors and pediatricians. We’ll gossip about babysitters, teachers, neighbors, in laws. We’ll speculate about who had a shot of Botox, who cheats on their taxes, who cleans until midnight. We’ll implore each other to read this book or see this movie or listen to this song. We’ll persuade each other to bake, sell, recruit, fold, stuff, paint, clean and write checks for our favorite non-profits.

We’ll celebrate each other’s achievements –opening an exercise studio, a corner store, a jewelry business. We’ll celebrate our kids’ achievements – making the traveling team, singing in the choir, learning to use the potty or speak French or play the flute. We’ll borrow eggs, earrings, extra chairs, galvanized tubs for a barbeque. We’ll throw birthday parties for each other and stain the rugs and shatter the wine glasses and mark up new counters with the odd slice of lemon. We’ll worry about who seems down, who looks tired, whose drinking more and more. We’ll say things we wished we hadn’t and have to find a way to regain each other’s trust. Things will break, they always do. Many will be fixed.

We’ll bury our mothers and our fathers—shuttling our children off for sleepovers, jumping on red eyes, telling each other stories that hurt to hear about gasping, agonal breaths, hospice nurses, scars and bruises and scabs and how skin papers shortly after a person passes. We will nod in agreement that it is as much an honor to witness a person come into the world as it is to watch a person leave it.

People will drift in and out. Book clubs will swell and thin. We’ll write someone off and they’ll reemerge later and we’ll remember both why we loved them and why we let them slip away but we’ll be softer and we’ll want them back, for nostalgia will get stronger.

We’ll admire each other for a fine crème brule, a promotion, a degree, a finished marathon. We’ll commiserate about commutes, layoffs, mortgage rates, bosses, unappreciated toys. We’ll confide in each other about feeling anxious or angry or uninteresting or uninspired or how many pieces of Halloween candy we accidentally ate from our kids’ bags. We’ll confess that our husbands don’t really listen to us or that we should be having more sex or that we yell at our kids every day. We’ll admit that we believe in God, Jesus Christ, Heaven and Hell, or that we don’t.

We’ll throw potlucks and take each other to lunch and give each other frames and soaps and bracelets. We’ll check each other’s heads for lice and examine new bumps and moles and listen to lists of symptoms. We’ll diagnose each other’s brown lawns, torn muscles, basement odors. We’ll teach other how to set a ring tone, make a slide show, download a movie.

We will call and say “I heard the news” and whatever the news is, we will come running, probably with food. We’ll insist on taking the kids, finding second opinions, lots of rest and the best surgeon. We will face diseases, many kinds, and will—temporarily—lose our hair, our figures and our minds.

Eventually, someone whose not supposed to die will, maybe one of us, maybe a husband, God forbid a child, and all this celebrating and sharing and confessing will make certain essential comforts possible. We’ll rally around and hold each other up and it won’t be nearly enough but it will help the time pass just a hair faster than it would have otherwise. We will wait patiently and lovingly for that first laugh after the loss. When it comes, and it will come, we will cry as we howl as we clutch as we circle. We will transcend, ladies. Because we did all this, in that worst moment, we will transcend.

4 comments:

Thank you for posting that. It made me cry, it made me hopeful for this period in my life when I struggle to grasp at friendships. Friendships that I don't know whether they will last. Friendships that are fragile and built on playdates, chance meetings at dance class, chance meetings in the parking lot at preschool. Friendships that were built in a career before children in another city and now exists through the computer :). Friendships that began in college before husbands, before children before legal drinking age! It gave me hope. Thank you, Sara!Your Friend,Le Anne

Sara, I cried too. I never take for granted how lucky I am to have so many wonderful women in my life - you are one of them. Every day I marvel at what all of my friends accomplish. The words of these quotes are so true. I am actually going to steel it for my blog:) Thanks for including me on this post. It made me feel special:) Here's to the support in the bad times, and to the celebrations of the fantastic times to come (oh wait, I need to get my wine - we need a mommmies' night out!).

These words express exactly that which is so difficult to find a way to describe what makes my life a blessed one. I am so grateful to be able to count you among those dear friends (sisters, really) that inspire, lift and ground me all at the same time. Thank you for sharing this.

About Us

I'm a happy wife, mommy, Kindergarten teacher, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, granddaughter, and cousin. Not always in that order. But I wear each "hat" with pride. When I grow up, I dream of being a children's book author/illustrator and photographer.I love my family...want to meet them?

Ken is a wonderful husband and fantastic daddy.He spoils all of us and works hard teaching high school.We met on a blind date...and life has been amazing ever since!

Jack could really write his own blog.He's the best 12 year old. Ever.I love watching the person he is becoming.

Molly is our silly, silly, silly girl.Sweet, dramatic, smart, and stubborn.She's 7 going on 17.She's just as awesome as her big brother.

My Other Blog

Awesome Quote to Share:

"Every child deserves to have at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about them." - Urie Bronfenbrenna

Why a Blog?

The "inspiration" for this blog comes from the growing trend of bloggers. Yes, plain and simple. It was peer pressure.

However, the bigger inspiration had to be our 10 year old son, Jack, who is now in 5th grade at my school. He alone supplies me with enough stories! I started the blog just before Molly's birth...and she gives me even more to blog about!

Keep checking in...If you know MY kids, there will always be something to say!